JAPANESE ASTEROIDEA, 163 



the stout Spines of the inferomarginals, arranged on each plate in a series 

 of three or foiu". 



" Astropedeji pohjacantlais has a wide distribution, extending from the 

 Red Sea to Zanzibar, Ceylon, Hongkong, the coasts of China and Japan 

 (Kobe, Yokohama), New Holland, Admiralty Islands, Fiji Islands, and Port 

 Jackson, Australia. It is a shallow water species exclusively, ranging from 2 

 to 50 fathoms, the usual depths at which it is found being 25 fathoms and 

 imder. The station at Bird Island is the most eastern record for the Pacific, 

 very materially extending the known range of the species." 



Brown reports this starfish from the Mergui Ai-cliipelago [ :10, p. 30] : 



" Locahty.^ — I., Tavoy Island, 8 fathoms, shelly sand and mud. 



"11=15.5 r=:4 [mm.]. Breadth of arm at base = 4.5. 



" A single specimen apparently a young form, in wliich the spines of 

 the ventral surface are scarcely developed. One supero-marginal on either 

 side of the median interradial line bears a distinct tooth-like spine inclined 

 slightly inwards. 



" The specimen seems to be referable to this species. 



" Recorded previously from the Red Sea, Zanzibar, and Mozambique, the 

 Seychelles and Ceylon to Hong-Kong, the Fiji Islands, and Port Jackson." 



Simpson and Brown reports it from Portuguese East Africa [ :10, p. 48] : 



" In the specimens, wliich we have identified with this species, the first 

 supero-marginal plate is strongly armed with a vertical spine. The second 

 supero-marginal on each side of the median interradial line is devoid of a 

 spine, wliile the remainder have the same structiu-e as the fii"st. 



" Sladen draws attention to a specimen in which tliis characteristic 

 absence is not pronounced. 



" This species is fairly abundant on the coast, and its distribution is 

 interesting. It is a typically shallow-water species, as the following bathy- 

 metrical notes will show : — 



" China, Beach. 



Japan, 5 to 25 fathoms. 



Admiralty Islands, 16 to 25 fathoms. 



Port Jackson, 2 to 11 fathoms, and 6 to 15 fathoms. 



